Time and Tide

This is about everything that is evolving around us with time .... the changing trends .... their highs and lows .... The changes that are making an impact on our lives .... From technology to social, economic and political issues ... Some books, some sports, some personal anecdotes.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

This is an incident that happened on the 21st of last month during the annual ekiden (a relay race held on roads) for women in Fukutsu, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan.

One of the members of a relay team, 19-year-old Rei Iida, fell down and was unable to run. But so intense was her determination not to let her team down, she crawled the remaining 200 to 300 meters on her knees in order to pass on the relay sash to her teammate.

Besides the bloody bruises on her knees, she had suffered a fracture.

While the young girl's perseverance is admirable and inspiring, the unfortunate part of the story is that the young woman didn't know that her team officials, on seeing her fall down, had informed the organisers that the team was pulling out of the race. By the time that message reached the runner, she had already crawled her way, and was very close to sash-passing point.

This is the not the first time someone is crawling to the finish. In February 2015, in Austin, Texas, a 29-year-old Kenyan marathoner, Hyvon Ngetich, crawled to the finish line, after collapsing just 50 meters ahead of the finishing line and declining a wheelchair. When she collapsed, she was leading the race, but she still managed to end the race in the third place.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

I watched the entire one-and-a-half hour press conference President Donald Trump had with the White House media on November 07.

There was nothing unusual in the way he responded to the journalists. That is the way he is. He snubbed many of them, and called many of them part of fake news.

But the extent of frustration and anger seemed to be unusual. So also the revoking of the press pass of a White House correspondent, and the seeming warning to other journalists not to ask uncomfortable questions.

Trump has a history of quarrels with Acosta. In Jan 2017, Jim asked him a question about "Russian meddling" and the President-elect lost his cool. Then the confrontation with Jim when addressing a joint press conference with British PM Theresa May in London. In this presser too, Trump displayed the same sort of frustration with the questions.

FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS

When the President called Jim for his turn, and the latter began asking the question, it was evident Trump was getting irritated; more irritated than with other journalists. He remarked, "Here we go ..."

To be fair to the President, he was encouraging Jim to ask questions. And his early remarks looked sporting though sarcastic, as usual. Trump very patiently explained to Jim that the immigrants can come into America, but they can come only legally.

The point of contention was Trump's characterisation of the movement of immigration as an invasion. Trump said he and Jim had differing views on whether it was an invasion or not. Jim was trying to get an explanation from the President on why he thought that it was an invasion.

Trump wasn't able to convey himself clearly. Or he didn't have a clear answer. Trump then told Jim to let him run the country and that Jim can run CNN. Jim said okay, and sought permission for an another question. Trump didn't allow, and moved to the next journalist. That was when the White House intern came to take away the mike.

There is nothing unusual in journalists wanting to ask supplementary questions. Each journalist feels lucky to be called to ask questions, and they want to ask as many as possible. Happens all the time with all the journalists and officials who address press conferences. Even in this one, others too asked or tried to ask such questions. Trump allowed some, cut many of them.

Journalists are paid to ask uncomfortable questions; and there was no need for Trump to lose his cool. The President should have just ignored Jim and stuck on with Peter Alexander of NBC, the next journalist. There was no need to say "you are rude", "you are terrible" etc.

And to make matters worse for the President, Peter said, "In Jim's defense, I've traveled with him and watched him. He's a diligent reporter who busts his butt like the rest of us."

JIM ACOSTA BANNED FROM WHITE HOUSE

What followed was not just unprecedented, unwarranted too. Jim's pass that gave him access to White House premises was revoked. The reason cited was Jim had his hand on the female White House intern who tried to take the mike away from Jim.

Jim didn't look angry or rude; and Jim's arm did make contact with the intern's arm in his effort to keep the mike. But surely the contact wasn't intended.

It was very clear that that his pass was revoked only because Jim has been asking unpleasant questions, not just at this press conference but in others as well. It might also have been a warning to other journalists that they might too risk losing their pass.

Then another twist in the tale. WH Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders retweeted a video which is said to have been doctored to emphasise the arm contact.

President Donald Trump's problems with the media is now many years old. Right from the campaign days he has had the belief that a good majority of the US media are liberal, left leaning, and against him. He used all sorts of words from "scum" and "dishonest" to "sleaze" to describe the "70 to 75%" of the media that are critical of him.

On the day he was sworn in itself there was an ugly spat -- Trump said the media selectively showed vacant areas to illustrate that the crowd that came for the Trump swearing-in was smaller than that for Obama swearing-in.

He has been using the word "fake news" for news articles that either he doesn't like or those that are critical of him. His anger took on a new dimension with his expression that media are "enemies of the people".

MEDIA IS THERE TO ASK QUESTIONS

Though media is not formally recognised as a part of the political system, it is an important social platform that carries all types of information: both plain news as well as interpretative, analytical and opinionated views.

Traditionally, news by definition is all about that is not going right in the society. Journalists by definition are skeptical and they are there to ask questions and seek answers; and sometimes they have an adversarial relationship with centres of power, especially the government. Journalists are always trying to catch officials in an spot. Conversely, the officials are aware of what journalists are up to, and they ensure that don't fall for the journalists' bait.

Trump calls spade a spade, and most of the time he doesn't care much for traditions, courtesies and diplomacies. So, his run-ins with the media are no surprise. Though he generally doesn't like most of the media, from what I have read, he keenly follows all the media. He knows the power of the media, and is quite conscious of the way he is portrayed in them.

BETTER TO IGNORE, NOT CONFRONT

Confronting and attacking the media doesn't help. It only makes matters worse. The best way that is adopted by smart and clever leaders when they handle media, especially a belligerent one, is to be transparent and inclusive with them. But when there are uncomfortable or difficult questions, the smart leaders parry them, if they can't come up with a diplomatic answer.

Thursday, November 8, 2018

This is a small book of six lovely real-life short stories. The author, Maria Hall, grew up in Ireland and now lives in New Zealand.

The stories -- about Agnes, Nora and Patricia, three generations of Irish women in the family of Maria Hall -- have historical references as well as a strong Irish Catholic underpinning.

The stories have no complex plots and subplots; but they are so full of life, weaving the disparate emotions centred around everyday joys and tribulations. This is the first book of this kind I have read. The story I liked the most was The Intruder.

Saturday, November 3, 2018

Another highly publicised book on US President Donald Trump, this one by the acclaimed journalist Bob Woodward, who is a great inspiration for countless journalists around the world.

Like similar books, many extracts appeared in the media before the book hit the stands. Everything in the book is about recent events. So if you have been keenly following the current developments, there isn't a lot you will find startling or new in this book.

What the book does provide though are a large number of anecdotes: conversations between the President and multiple White House advisers, high and low in the hierarchy. They all show how Trump is out of sync with what is generally believed is acceptable.

These anecdotes also reveal the sort of person Trump is: someone who is not only passionate about what he believes in but also determined to put to practice what he wants to do. Most of the official government policies are not thought-through, and stem out of Trump's personal beliefs, irrespective of whether they make sense in the political, diplomatic, economic or social sense.

He doesn't care whether others agree with him or not. What he thinks right is right. So we have many advisers countering Trump's suggestions with facts and figures. But that makes little impact on Trump, who just brushes them aside.

For example, one extract from the book:

"The president clung to an outdated view of America—locomotives, factories with huge smokestacks, workers busy on assembly lines. ... Several times (Former president of Goldman Sachs and the president's top economic advisor Gary) Cohn just asked the president, “Why do you have these views?” “I just do,” Trump replied. “I’ve had these views for 30 years.” “That doesn’t mean they’re right,” Cohn said. “I had the view for 15 years I could play professional football. It doesn’t mean I was right.”

While the author has done a lot of meticulous research to gather data -- just as a journalist would do -- this book only adds to the surfeit of anti-Trump lowdown we are already deluged with.

I really liked the book only because of the extensive research Bob has done to put this together, which will prove invaluable not now but many years later when Trump is history.

Monday, October 29, 2018

There are various residues or leftovers that remain after the harvesting of a crop. Since they don't have any use in that form, most farmers burn them, leading to huge environment pollution.

However, those residues can be further processed to obtain what are called biofuels. But it needs some investment and it is not an easy process.

Recently, I chanced upon a news item in The Indian Express that spoke of a startup formed by two enterprising farmers in Punjab. This crop residue management company is called Farm2Energy, and they make biocoal with residue from crops
of paddy, sugarcane and corn. Biocoals are environment friendly fuels that can be substitutes for coal, wood, and other conventional fuels.

It is really heartwarming to see such environment-friendly business initiatives being undertaken. And more such activities can make our world a better place to live in.

Friday, October 26, 2018

People, especially youngsters, with earphones plugged in, is a very common sight, nowadays. Most of them are listening to music, I guess. You see them in office working on something very serious, or travelling metro trains, or walking or jogging; and I am told, they listen to music even while going to sleep.

I am plugged in (to mean online on my phone) only to keep myself updated with the news stream almost through the day, and to reply to important emails and messages. I am not one of those who listen to music on earphone while reading, writing, walking or jogging. Very rarely, when I am craving for some change, I play instrumental music in very low volume on my laptop or phone, but through the speaker and not the earphones.

During the past few weeks, on four or five days, I went to bed with earphones plugged in, listening to music or some of my favourite podcasts. During those good old days, I have fallen asleep listening to the radio, but not via earphones. There is also a school of thought which says soothing music in low volume calms the mind and helps you get good sleep.

But my experiment was a disaster. I didn't fall asleep. The music and the radio programmes hardly had any soporific effect. Worried I might just lie awake the whole night, I unplugged the earphones and tried to sleep, the way I have always done.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Earlier this month, there was a news item that Google will shut down its social media platform, Google Plus, for consumers. From August of next year, Google Plus will be available only for business customers.

The reason: Google discovered earlier this year, that its software programme had bugs that allowed miscreants to steal data of not only G+ users but also of their friends. This discovery was around the time when Facebook was being hauled through coals for a similar loophole in its software architecture.

Google kept quiet at that time, fearing a public backlash. Now they have come up a solution -- since Google won't be able provide a safe platform to its users, they will rather shut it down. And according to Google, there are very few people using G+. It's the businesses that are using G+ more.

Percentage wise, probably, the number of users might be comparatively small. But the number could be quite a big. And this decision will impact a lot of people around the world.

This decision is very much in pattern with Google's general practice of constantly innovating and coming up with newer services and products, but keeping only the ones they think are doing well. Reader, Buzz, Knol, Labs, Video Goggles, Health are some products that have been shut down.

The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds.

The review did highlight the significant challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets consumers’ expectations. Given these challenges and the very low usage of the consumer version of Google+, we decided to sunset the consumer version of Google+.

To give people a full opportunity to transition, we will implement this wind-down over a 10-month period, slated for completion by the end of next August. Over the coming months, we will provide consumers with additional information, including ways they can download and migrate their data.

At the same time, we have many enterprise customers who are finding great value in using Google+ within their companies. Our review showed that Google+ is better suited as an enterprise product where co-workers can engage in internal discussions on a secure corporate social network.